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Hello

 

Does anyone know anything about digital meter reading ?

 

I just received a first gas bill from BG, which has an alleged actual reading of last week.

The area to where the meter is positioned is chained and padlocked and impossible to be accessed. The only way to gain access is by the occupants of the property unlocking the padlock. Which so did not happen.

So my question is: how can Accuread allege to have done an "actual" reading ?

 

I have read up a bit today on this issue.

Apparently there are now digital readers which will allow utility companies to drive by and take the readings from meters without ever having to gain access to properties.

Now, the property meter has a bar code and is a metric meter but it is 10 years old.

Can Accuread now walk past / drive past and direct a digital reader at the meter and take an accurate reading ?

Or do the meters have to be new models with a device fitted to allow this to happen ?

And can Accuread just lie about the "actual" reading ?

 

The "actual" reading given by Accuread is incorrect. Which is why I wish to get advice before I write a snotty letter of complaint.

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it may be a deemed or estimated reading sent by the readers, or sometimes they do put in the wrong reading.

 

Smart meters are not yet widely available and I'm sure they've not even been invented for gas yet. I'm sure if BG are supplied wth the correct read they will amend the bill for you.

 

With regards to the gas meter being padlocked away, is that such a good idea? what if they couldn't find the key and there was a gas leak? It's advisable to make sure the meter is accessible 24/7,just incase :)

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Thanks NL. That answers my question, I guess. But I do wonder how a meter reader can say they have read a meter, when they clearly have not.

 

The meter is not locked away, as such. It is in a basement area. The gate to the basement area is padlocked for security. Had burglars once, do not want them again !

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ah right, thought it was in like a normal meter box or something but that makes sense...

if someone is left to work without supervision, then i guess they would make up that they've done a certain amount of work when they haven't, sad fact of life i guess, and we all know it happens in every area of work when people aren't supervised properly (ie posties leaving letters dumped etc)

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  • 4 years later...

I just received a letter from British Gas -

 

 

"We would like to exchange your electricity meter. Every so often we are required to exchange your meter to ensure its continued accuracy and safety. Your electricity meter is now due to be exchanged and we need to arrange a date and time to come to your home and install the new meter...."

 

Now -

I have a gas meter with British Gas for my GAS supply

And I have an electricity meter with EDF as my ELECTRICITY supplier.

 

 

So why are British Gas writing to me telling me they are required to exchange my electricity meter??

just to try and get my electricity business too???

 

 

Curious.

Before I throw the letter in the bin !!!

Edited by dx100uk
please dont circumvent the inappropriate word filter its there for a reason
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they might well own the network infrastructure

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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I fitted both meters into the property during a renovation many years ago.

I never dealt with EDF / British Gas for the same fitting - totally different companies.

 

 

It seems like a marketing ploy to me.

Has anyone else had the same thing.

 

 

Plus - the pipes and meters were brand new fitted during the refurb - so should not need to be replaced. Does not seem normal that they exchange meters each decade....

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  • 2 months later...

Helping out a friend here.

 

 

British Gas have started billing my friend a "Standing Order" charge.

 

 

Friend has NO gas.

He owns the flat.

It is pretty old fashioned - there are no gas pipes into his flat; no central heating, no boiler, no gas hob. Absolutely NO gas.

He has the ground floor flat in a block of 5 flats.

In the basement vaults of the block - outside in a communal area - there are meters for the block - and I assume that all the other flats have a gas supply.

 

 

I rang BG on friend's behalf - with all the bills to hand - and queried why - after more than 20 years - BG has suddenly started sending "Standing Order" bills to my friend, despite him not having the utility.

 

 

BG advised that legislation changed in November 2013 and that for every meter they are now sending out "Standing Order" bills !!

 

 

BG would not listen that friend does not have gas - that surely BG can not start billing people for a utility that friend does not have.....???

This practise seems illegal.

And I wonder how many other people BG are "ripping off" in this way.

S-C-A-M

 

 

Does anyone have an appropriate answer to BG ????

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To elaborate further: Friend had a BG credit from a previous property.

BG has been debiting that account for this "Standing Order" charge.

Now all that credit is used up, they are sending red letters and threatening demands....

Friend is not in the country and I help him out.

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It is unlikely that a gas meter would originally have been installed for all flats except one. Even if your friend has no supply he may still have a meter. Can you check whether the no. on the bills corresponds to one of them?

 

Last year B G sent customers a rant, deep inside which was buried news of the reintroduction of a standing charge. Assuming one of the meters is your friend's he should have B G remove it.

 

It seems improbable that they would conjure up a meter number from thin air. First, be absolutely certain of your facts, rather than assuming. Then if there is definitely no meter, your friend must write a letter headed "formal complaint" saying as much. If they insist there is a meter and you insist there isn't, ask them to prove it. Don't phone: you need a written record. Give them 56 days to respond, failing which you [he] will take the matter to the regulator - contact details are on the bills.

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Hi HP Mum

 

Just to add, your talking about a 'Standing Charge'.

 

Write a Formal Letter of Compaint, mark it as such. Explain what's happened (no gas usage), how they have let you down (being billed for meter - Standing Charge) and what you want them to do (remove meter if there is one, stop billing for meter - Standing Charge). If there is no usage, British Gas should be listening.

 

Send it to:-

 

Mr Ian Peters

Managing Director

British Gas - Residential Energy

[email protected]

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  • 2 years later...

Hi

I set up a Payment Plan with British Gas in September16, following an unexpected huge bill.

I have been paying monthly as agreed (£160 fwiw).

 

In Feb BG sent a letter advising my Payments haven't changed.

 

End March BG sent a letter saying I'd missed my monthly payment

- and quoted a figure of £600 more than my monthly payment!

 

I immediately wrote stating BG must have made a mistake.

I made the normal payment.

 

Then start April BG wrote saying they were cancelling my Plan.

I again wrote to complain.

 

BG have failed to reply to both letters..

 

I did try calling - but got some jobsworth who told me if BG had written saying I should be paying almost £800/month then that is what I should pay.....

 

Following on - instead of replying to my letters, BG have sent demands and threatening letters, stating they were adding charges to my account.

 

Now I have received a threatening letter from a company appointed by BG

- some kind of financial services company called arvato...

saying they will make a home visit and charge me for it..etc etc.

 

My knee-jerk reaction is to email this fs company and copy the BG and my letters and tell them to sort it out.

 

Or is there a higher office at BG I should write to.

 

It is SO frustrating.

And there is no way I am paying almost £800/month.

 

Help????

 

Also - is arvato part of BG?

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I think Arvato are a Debt Collection Agency/Bailiff services !

 

 

And not part of British Gas

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Advice & opinions given by citizenb are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO GIVE ADVICE BY PM - IF YOU PROVIDE A LINK TO YOUR THREAD THEN I WILL BE HAPPY TO OFFER ADVICE THERE:D

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thanks citizen.

Well - that's not good is it.

How can BG change a payment plan without telling me

- in fact whilst telling me my plan remains the same,

then ignore my complaint letters,

and then instruct a dca/bailiff.

That is NOT on.

 

I have now written to this dca.

Sent them details showing BG is wrong...

 

However - if they are independent from BG

- is there a high up officer I can directly write to at BG?

Does anyone have the details of an important person to whom I can direct my complaints?

 

Does anyone have an email address for British Gas?

A head of complaints email would be good.

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This is all I could find.

 

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/complaints.html

Have we helped you ...?         Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

Uploading documents to CAG ** Instructions **

Looking for a draft letter? Use the CAG Library

Dealing with Customer Service Departments? - read the CAG Guide first

1: Making a PPI claim ? - Q & A's and spreadsheets for single premium policy - HERE

2: Take back control of your finances - Debt Diaries

3: Feel Bullied by Creditors or Debt Collectors? Read Here

4: Staying Calm About Debt  Read Here

5: Forum rules - These have been updated - Please Read

BCOBS

1: How can BCOBS protect you from your Banks unfair treatment

2: Does your Bank play fair - You can force your Bank to play Fair with you

3: Banking Conduct of Business Regulations - The Hidden Rules

4: BCOBS and Unfair Treatment - Common Examples of Banks Behaving Badly

5: Fair Treatment for Credit Card Holders and Borrowers - COBS

Advice & opinions given by citizenb are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO GIVE ADVICE BY PM - IF YOU PROVIDE A LINK TO YOUR THREAD THEN I WILL BE HAPPY TO OFFER ADVICE THERE:D

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Go to the top:- e-mail

 

- Services

 

Mr Matthew Bateman Managing Director

 

Email [email protected]

 

Telephone 01753 494343 (Direct)

Switchboard 01753 494000

Website http://www.britishgas.co.uk

Social Media T

 

Postal Address Millstream Maidenhead Road, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 5GDM

Company Number 03141243C

Company Status Active (Established 22/12/1995

:mad2::-x:jaw::sad:
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  • 1 year later...

I have a red flag on my credit file due to discrepancies with a Utility Company.

 

The background:

I had a large unexpected bill - so set up a payment plan. I paid every month.

In the 5th month a letter came saying my payments were staying the same.

A couple weeks later a letter came saying I had failed to make a payment and my payment amount was changing (increasing 45%) :evil:

I had paid every month without fail - so I did not understand this request.

 

I wrote to complain that they had made an error. Didn't get a reply. But the Co meanwhile sent threatening letters and advised they would send out a field rep - at extra cost to me...

 

I called. The Person I spoke to advised that my payment plan amount had changed and I had to pay that amount. The revised monthly amount bore no relevance to my outstanding balance.

 

I re-sent the original letter.

And paid nominal amounts for the next few months, as I thought it would be a good thing to keep paying something until the issue was resolved...

 

Then the utility Co read/revised the meter reading and reduced the outstanding balance a lot.

 

Then I spoke to someone else and set up new payment plan based on the revised balance and current consumption too. And been paying it ever since...

 

It was only this week that I had a look at my credit file and I saw loads of alleged late/ non-payments - which corresponded with the times when i was on the original payment plan.

So I rang.

It turns out that I should have paid the set Plan amount on the exact same day every month. Their computer system does not recognise payments on any other day. So despite paying early the computer did not recognise the payment and instead registered my account as non-paid...

How ridiculous is that??!!

Then, despite paying nominal amounts for a few months, because I was neither on a payment plan nor had cleared the balance, the Co kept classing it as a problem non-payment account.

 

So now I have a long line of alleged non-payments against this utility Co - which is a problem on my credit report.

 

I asked them to remove the bad reports. They refused.

I just don't understand how I can pay early and get a missed payment marker on my report? Surely this computer system can be classified as faulty/ misrepresenting the facts??

Their report of my account shows I did not pay. But I did pay every month the agreed sum.

Is there a way to successfully argue my case?

 

I advised the utility Co I wanted to write a complaint. They said they would put a note on their system saying we are deadlocked and the way their system worked is that they would write to me.

I said NO - I wanted to write to them first. They said it just doesn't work that way...

I will write. But I want to ensure I write with a plausible argument for them to alter the credit report.

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who?

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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ive found an old thread too

so all you've got is a few markers in the calendar section nothing in the summary like late payment?

just wondering in all truth what effect this is actually having upon your file, very little I think.

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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I checked my report as I am refinancing something. The lender flagged it up and wanted an in-depth explanation. I guess it is minor in the sense it didn't become a default. But the file alleges I missed 6 payments - when I didn't. Having worked very hard to try improve my file, it is very upsetting/ annoying

 

I was checking my records. I need to check deeper - but I don't think I ever had it in writing that the payment plan needed to be paid on a specific day each month. I certainly wouldn't expect early payment to create a "non-payment" problem as it did...

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Although this may be having very little effect on your life at the moment, if there is no justification for having these markers on your file then they should certainly not be there. Clearly they are at the very least causing you and inconvenience if somebody is asking for more information.

 

Secondly, if you for some reason or other receive another marker from someone else that on its own could be a minor event but taken with these British Gas unjustified markers could appear to be far more meaningful, then clearly it is worth paying attention to the British Gas markers and getting them removed.

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I suggest that you send them an SAR. See what you get - and what is missing. Then come back here. I thin that they have a statutory duty to maintain your personal data corectly and a contractual duty to do so as well

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Your account is in default.

You said it turns out I should of paid the set amount on the same day every month.

 

If a bill is due by the 28th of the month, its due on the 28th.. Not the 29th or 30th.

If you want to put the burden on them then set a direct debit up.

 

Now if you paid it on the 27th with a due date of 28th and they still defaulted it then you have a case.

You didnt.

Nominal payments which are not the full monthly arrangement on or before the due date are defaults too.

 

Why do you think that late payments are acceptable and if you do how much grace do you think should be given? A day, a week a month?

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